The Sparta resident was laid off from his corporate job three years ago. When it happened, his uncle, who owns several ice cream businesses along the West Michigan lakeshore, asked him to take over running one of them the following summer.

Ruark did, and discovered he loved it.

Meanwhile, no other job materialized, so he continued working as a manager for his uncle. And something his late father used to say to him kept running through his head.

“I had it drilled into me for years by my dad that you always want to be in business for yourself – even though he never was in business for himself,” Joel said. “And after the first year of doing it for my uncle, I knew I wanted to buy my own place.”

So Joel and his wife, Kelly, began looking around. It happened that C’s Dogs N’ Dairy on Clay Avenue at 44th Street in Wyoming was closed and up for sale. They made a deal and are now the proud – and often exhausted – owners of their very own ice cream shop.

The Ruarks opened for business June 27 and have been steadily building up the menu and clientele.

“It’s your typical old-fashioned walk-up ice cream shop,” said Kelly, who continues to work full-time as a nurse in Grand Rapids while Joel runs the shop.“People are so excited we’ve opened the business back up,” Kelly said. “They thought it was for sale and no one would buy it.

“I think it was kind of a focal point, especially in that little neighborhood. It’s in walking distance for a lot of people.”

On the food side, they’re doing hamburgers, hot dogs, chili dogs with homemade chili, a Chicago dog and a pork barbecue sandwich made from a family recipe.“It’s not your typical pulled pork,” Kelly said. “It’s shaved pork, with a special barbecue sauce on the top – it’s not mixed in.”

In commemoration of their location, they offer a 44th Street Dog, which Joel said is topped with a combination of the homemade chili and barbecue sauces.“It’s definitely a focus of ours to make sure we’re making good food,” Kelly said. “The food is not premade, it’s all made when you order it.”

The dogs are larger than most, Joel said, and are all-beef.

“We’re not gourmet, but we definitely carry hot dogs that nobody else around is carrying,” he added.

Workers from nearby businesses are discovering the Ruarks’ menu for lunch. Picnic tables, including some under an awning, surround the building.

The previous owner also frequently hosted classic cars on Fridays and Saturdays, and Kelly said the cars are starting to come back.

“Two Saturdays ago, we probably had 20 cars on the lot,” she said.

They have a Facebook page, and Kelly was excited to report that they just had received “our 100th like.” The website comes next.

Besides some employees, they expect their two sons will be working in the business as they get older.

The Ruarks plan to close for the winter and sell Christmas trees there in December, as the previous owner did. But right now they’re concentrating on the ice cream and the food, bringing new customers in and keeping the rest of them coming back for more.

Kelly is especially proud of her husband, who’s been working 13-hour days for weeks now, for having a vision and going after it.

“He is working so hard and showing our kids you can really work hard and realize your dream,” she said.

And three years later, Joel said getting laid off might prove to be the best thing that could have happened.

“It’s the old God closes a door and opens a window thing,” he said. “There’s a reason things happen.”

C’s Dogs N’ Dairy is at 521 44th Street SW, just off U.S. 131. Hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and noon to 10 p.m. Sunday.